Results of the nationwide ideas competition for redevelopment of the area
around Champ-de-Mars métro station

MONTRÉAL, April 6 /CNW Telbec/ - The Mayor of Montréal, Gérald Tremblay, and the Executive Committee Member responsible for Culture, Heritage, Design and the Status of Women, Helen Fotopulos, today announce the winning proposals of the nationwide ideas competition for redevelopment of the area around Champ-de-Mars métro station. The competition aimed to explore and illustrate a diversity of development possibilities based on the assumption that the nearby Ville-Marie expressway will be covered over and its exit ramps reconfigured.

"Our administration is convinced of the structure-enhancing potential of design to improve citizens' quality of life as well as their living environment," Mayor Tremblay said, adding: "At the Rendez-vous November 2007-Montréal, Cultural Metropolis, the city made a firm commitment to making such competitions a widespread practice, promoting innovation and excellence in architecture and design, and continuing to position Montréal as a UNESCO City of Design. This project is a concrete illustration of our willingness to ensure that Montréal's designers play a paramount role in shaping our city's future."

For her part, Ms. Fotopulos declared: "Design competitions in general have a notable cultural dimension. This one posed an additional challenge in that the site encompasses a major work of art, surroundings that are in the process of redefinition, and an extremely important interface to the historical borough of Old Montréal. The ideas competition was thus an opportunity to assess possible expressions of the present day in the city, which among other things will take stock of contemporary lifestyles while at the same time building the heritage of tomorrow."

    
    A fruitful
    ideas competition
    

The competition jury studied a total of 78 eligible proposals, 47 in the "Professional" category and 31 in the "Student" category. Jury members emphasized the strategic importance and exceptional nature of the site under study-dictated, among other things, by the perspectives it provides onto Champ de Mars and the city buildings bordering it, and the view from that esplanade.

The majority of concepts submitted considered the entire unbuilt space along the expressway: few of them were restricted to the immediate vicinity of the métro entrance. The jury members agreed with the vision of most entrants: that powerful, innovative action should be taken on this entire site to make it a true asset for Montréal.

The winning proposals in the "Professional" category are:

    
    - 1st Prize ($20,000): Dominic Poncelet, Kim Pariseau, Étienne Pelletier,
      Master's in Architecture graduates, Montréal
    - 2nd Prize ($12,500): Jean Beaudoin, architect, Intégral Jean Beaudoin,
      Christian Barré, artist and videographer, Fabian Rendon and Viorel
      Indries, architectural technicians, Studio Huma Design, Montréal
    - 3rd Prize ($7,500): Rémi Morency, architect and urban planner, David
      Paradis, urban planner, Québec City
    

In the "Student" category, the jury elected to award five ex aequo prizes of $2,000 each to the following individual and team entrants:

    
    1. Patrick Blanchette, Master's in Architecture student, Université de
       Montréal
    2. Danny Aubin, Vincent Carrière Marleau, Architecture students,
       Université de Montréal
    3. Daisy Smith Therriault, Anik Malderis, Master's in Architecture
       students, Université de Montréal
    4. Annie Breton, Frédérick Boily, Master's in Architecture students,
       Université de Montréal
    5. Christina Petkova, Master's in Architecture student, Université de
       Montréal
    

The jury noted that, consistent with the expectations for an ideas competition, the chosen proposals are at a schematic stage only, and do not necessarily provide comprehensive solutions to the redevelopment challenges. This explains why the majority of entrants, including the winners, felt it was important to transcend the objectives stipulated in the competition regulations and, in so doing, challenge the authorities responsible for development of the site. The jury members appreciated that gambit and its inherent call for more upstream thinking about "humanity in the city."

    
    Follow-up
    to the competition
    

The Ville de Montréal welcomes the jury's recommendations. The relevant central authorities will consider the ideas put forward in the winning proposals when the time comes to develop the detailed plan for the expressway redevelopment. The results of the competition and the jury's report will also be forwarded to the major partners involved in defining the interfaces to the site.

This competition is one of the five shukôs, or creative challenges, issued on September 30, 2008, by the Mayor of Montréal during the Pecha Kucha Night for Elected Officials. Besides providing tangible impetus for creativity in design and architecture, it aims to widen access to public design commissions to greater numbers of practitioners. The competition was run by the Design Montréal office and the program was drafted by the Urban Planning department of the Ville de Montréal.

All of the entries, including the winning proposals, may be viewed at the website realisonsmontreal.com.

    
    About
    Design Montréal
    

The Design Montréal office was created in January 2006 by the Ville de Montréal. Its mission is to implement the municipal action plan aimed at improving design throughout the city and positioning Montréal as a city of design.

For further information: Stéphanie Jecrois, Design Montréal, [phone]; Source: Darren Becker, Office of the Mayor and the Executive Committee, [phone]